Council rejects New Baltimore mayor's call for appraisals of city land

The New Baltimore City Council declined authorizing Mayor Larry Smith to obtain appraisals on downtown properties Feb. 11.

They did, however, encourage him to use prices for the parcels of land he is interested in selling, provided by the city’s assessing department, as a basis for the unnamed interested party to make an offer with.

This was a suggestion the mayor was not pleased with, as he insisted an appraisal is not only needed to provide the interested party a basis for an offer but also to receive the offer.

According to the charter, an appraisal is only needed to sell the property. Smith said he wants the appraisals to give the interested party something to make an offer off of, but added council doesn’t have to set the asking price at the appraised valued.

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Smith compared not having an appraised value on the properties to going into a grocery store and asking the cashier how much they would like to charge for a loaf of bread.

“I’m not saying he can’t put an offer on it,” Councilman Ken Butler said. “He can make the offer without all this; this is nonsense.”

Butler was the most vocal about not paying for appraisals at the moment, specifically for the two open pieces of land next to the New Baltimore Recreation Department. He said the city recreation committee is concerned about losing those two pieces of land because they may want to expand in the future. Smith refuted the interested buyer has discussed putting a two story parking structure on those two parcels of land.

“I see this going down an avenue that is not very well thought out,” Butler said.

Councilwoman Susan Burkhardt said it wasn’t necessarily the appraisal she was concerned about, but a development clause ensuring a potential buyer wouldn’t just purchase the property as an investment and sell it down the road. Burkhardt added she was willing to work with the mayor but thought assigning a price to properties, without the formal appraisal just yet, was the avenue that should be taken.

Councilman John Dupray added it is not unreasonable to ask the interested buyer to go to a realtor and come back with what is suggested as a legitimate price to make an offer. He said this is similar to what is often done in residential property, adding in those cases an appraisal isn’t provided until the closing process begins.

By the end of the Feb. 11 meeting there was no decision on what next steps the council should take though. Butler’s motion to receive appraisals on just the two Front Street properties, the old New Baltimore Police Department and the house next door, along with the old Christie’s Funeral Home, failed. Another motion to receive appraisals on all five pieces of property was also shot down. By that point members of the council were tired of going round-and-round without a decision or a compromise.

“Now we have someone who’s interested in that property and we’re going to put this off, put this off, put this off until they decide to walk away,” said Smith. “We continue to want to table things instead of taking a stand.”

Councilwoman Florence Hayman said it is difficult to make decisions on downtown development without any specific knowledge on what the development may be. Butler added he thinks the Downtown Development Authority should have input, which could take some time as they currently don’t have a director.

Smith insisted the interested party is ready to purchase the property, and has even met with community planners to develop building plans. Smith has refused to divulge the potential buyer publicly or to council members.